I believe there are essentially two kinds of failure: healthy and unhealthy. An unhealthy failure is one you might have seen coming but didn’t do anything to stop. While you can’t always prevent this type of failure, you can control your response. There’s an old saying—giving up on your goal because of one setback is like slashing your other three tires because you got a flat.

Healthy failure, on the other hand, is a different mindset. Instead of being afraid to fail, you view failure as a learning experience and an opportunity to move ahead in a smarter way. Therefore you’re more willing to try different things, and less likely to give up if something doesn’t work out the first time around.

Don't be afraid of failure.

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One of the main drivers of my success was my mother, who showed me that I could accomplish way more than I thought, as long as I didn’t give up. Her influence played a critical role in shaping me as an entrepreneur and a leader. More often than not, it’s our parents who advise us to get rid of our dreams, get our heads out of the clouds and live in reality.

My mom was just the opposite of that.

Despite having grown up in poverty and experiencing several tragedies in her life as a young adult, she was always the proverbial wind in my sails for nearly anything I set out to do. When I was five, she helped me set up a concession stand, where we sold frozen Kool-Aid, caps and rockets to the neighborhood kids. She helped me set prices and think about what the market would be in our neighborhood. We would figure out how to make an appropriate margin, and she didn’t make it easy for me either!

Later, when I was in middle school and high school, I tried my hand at a number of businesses, with mixed results. I had a popcorn company, a greeting card company, I became an auctioneer, taking other people’s junk and selling it for them, and I sold bait (nightcrawlers), among other ventures. My father would joke, “Your mother convinces you that you can do anything, and you’ve developed ‘persidity’ – this relentless persistence mixed with a naïve stupidity. You don’t know something shouldn’t work so you’re willing to try anything.”

He was right. I didn’t know I was not supposed to fail. As a result, I had this boundless creativity that allowed me to focus without fear of failing or succeeding. If you’re not afraid to try anything, your mind can go anywhere in terms of the possibilities. The resulting failures are what I call “healthy” failures, because they taught me valuable lessons and opened the door to a smarter way of seeking progress.

While my mindset has always been “try, fail, learn,” I’ve also experienced painful setbacks that I believe could have been avoided if I’d had a mentor, business coach or a “mastermind group” earlier in my career. (A mastermind group is a small group of people that you can share anything with and get feedback from.)

1. Don’t be a micro-manager.

Early in my career, I had to have my finger on everything, no matter how insignificant. Not only was I on my way to burn out as a result, my team wasn’t able to perform at its highest level. If you insist on having the final word on everything, eventually people won’t even want to try. Those who aren’t open to releasing responsibility will never grow beyond their own individual capabilities, and that doesn’t get anyone very far. More importantly, you don’t allow people to emerge and grow.

An important question all business leaders need to ask themselves is, “Are you a micromanager or are you surrounding yourself with the best people you can find and getting out of their way?”

Don't be a micro-manager.

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2. Surround yourself with engines, not anchors.

Intuitively, we all know we have to surround ourselves with great people. Yet, there was a time when I felt threatened by people who were smarter than me. As the leader of the firm, I was supposed to be the smartest cookie in the jar, right? Wrong. I was missing the point entirely. For a business to grow and succeed, it’s critical to hire people who are smarter than you when it comes to their areas of expertise. Recognize that you can’t be an expert on everything, and let the experts do their jobs. Find colleagues, peers and team members that embrace new ways of thinking instead of defending what they already know.

3. Be a librarian, not a library.

How often do you find yourself answering something that you truly don’t know the answer to? Maybe you have a sense that you’re directionally right, but you really don’t know the answer. For years, I felt I had to have an answer to every question that might come up in a client meeting out of fear that if I didn’t have an answer, they wouldn’t see value in what I was doing. A major mental shift for me was the decision to surround myself with people who were experts in their disciplines. Now, I don’t even attempt to answer questions that I know can be answered in a more thoughtful, thorough and comprehensive manner by harnessing the extensive resources we have in place.

4. Embrace and invest heavily in technology.

I always thought we were innovative and heavy users of technology. In reality, we under-invested. I first realized we weren’t fast enough followers when a long-term client said they loved us and would always stay with us, but their kids wouldn’t because we’d become irrelevant. Although we had invested a lot of money in tech, it didn’t matter if we weren’t backing it up with the people who could implement it to achieve a tremendous integrated experience for our clients and stakeholders. It’s really important for businesses in any industry or sector to adopt a culture that embraces scale and enables people to use that tech in new ways to deliver client and stakeholder value. And if you have to tell them how to do it, you have the wrong people.

Invest heavily in technology.

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5. Create a culture of forgiveness over failure.

Finally, you have to create a culture where creativity thrives. Looking back, it’s clear to me that I inadvertently stifled creativity by not giving people a safe environment to ask for forgiveness later instead of seeking permission. If you surround yourself with the best people, believe in them. They’ll prove their worth every time. As Sir Richard Branson once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

While failure to do any of the five things listed above can be a recipe for stagnation for any business, getting there is not always easy. Open yourself up to the kind of healthy risks that result in real business growth. You can’t be a micro-manager or a library. You have to surround yourself with engines—really good, capable people who will embrace innovative thinking and grow within your organization. And you have to give them the freedom, tools and technology to do what they do best. If you don’t do these things, chances are, you’ll always have a job, but you won’t have a fulfilling career surrounded by inspiring people who are the best at what they do.

And, you won’t get as far as you could’ve by bringing others along for the ride.